Your band is rehearsing THE WRONG WAY!

Is it time to get back out and start gigging? If so, make sure you're not torpedoing your band's progress. This week we talk about how we separate practice from rehearsal, how often you should rehearse, and other tips & tricks to make sure you're not wasting your time in the practice room.

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[grene]

Great discussion! I've been fronting bands for almost 50 years. I'm at the beginning stages of putting a new band together now, and I insist on once a week, Of course, there are weeks where it's just not possible, but that's the goal. I strongly feel that at that stage, the members need to get to know each other both musically and personally. Once we're playing semi-regularly, probably once a month. And I'm fortunate, I'm able to provide rehearsal space, a full backline, PA, etc. We rehearse in my studio, then before out first gig, we'll set up in my barn with the full stage setup. And you are dead on about the rhythm section...they are the key to tightness! And we do any song as many times as it takes for EVERY member to be comfortable with their part. Even if I know the tune inside out, I STILL benefit from repetition. It's called "Rehearsal". Otherwise. it would just be called "Hearsal"!

[brandinogibson]

Cover band going on 3 years together. We rehearse every Tuesday and Thursday except when band members are out. We're also constantly adding new songs, and we often put our own twist on songs.

[a.a.s.]

Great insight there, I would add as a bassist that locking in with the kick is half the formula. For the most part, the "pocket" resides in the snare placement. When we onboard a drummer (we often use sub drummers so this is an ongoing exercise), we expect they know their parts at rehearsal including the starts and endings because they get a live recording to work with at home. We're mostly concerned with tempos and where they place the snare, i.e. ahead, on, or behind the beat in the pocket. If I know the drummer from other projects we can often skip rehearsal and go on cold. We're a ZZ Top tribute, so the material (aside from the hits) is challenging for a drummer.

[mikeb.]

In the most successful band, I was ever in we wanted to play 10 nights per month. We would book ourselves around 90 days out. The only time we actually rehearsed was when we didn't have gigs booked to cover the nights played. Now we did do the soundcheck song ad thing but that was usually after we had worked it out in smaller groups.
Now the most original band I was in we only played out once a month, but spent around an hour and a half in the practice room two nights a week but on Sundays it was an 8-hour day for me and the drummer with the guitar player and vocalist who would get together separately on that Sunday to make demo's. We would meet across the street from the rehearsal space for lunch about four hours in . The band room also did not have a clock only a timer, The timer was hooked to the light switch, Take an hour lunch and it was a nine-hour day.

[daveylee]

My band (back when) rehearsed every Wednesday possible. 8 sets, about 80 songs on the set list. Play 2 nights in a row at the same club and not play the same song twice. Bring in a new song every week and cross out an old one. Maybe play the new song both nights. And we all had our day jobs, too.🤘

[Mguitar]

Great discussion. Unfortunately I have a situation where some band members refuse to practice at home, flat out refuse to learn new material, and are unwilling to rehearse once a week for new material. To me I'm extremely bored with the same old songs and our audience has made complaints as well about that. The other guys have an attitude of too bad, while I suffer and want to quit.

[RockAndDoubleBassWithAaronJoy]

I enjoy rehearsals. Though, I'll never be in a band again with someone who doesn't practice at home.

[ronjcharity]

Weekly, it’s about professionalism…be prepared :) practice at home and rehearse together. A bad apple will cause disruption be prepared to replace losers.

[gailhargraves]

Oh, the cliched 'bass goes with the kick drum' thing. It's really the two players both understanding the phrase, not necessarily playing the exact same parts of the phrase. And if only guitarists were more phrase aware. That makes bands will be REALLY tight. Yes, I've been playing drums for years BTW.

[thomascordery]

How big is Dan's storage / rehearsal space?

[curtisrobinson]

Do harmonies on a separate rehearsal day with an acoustic guitar or keyboard that's it. Otherwise the bandmembers who don't sing will figure you're wasting their time and you can't analyze who's singing what when the full band is playing over you

[drummingtildeath]

I have to say I don't agree about gigs being more useful than rehearsals. If you haven't sorted things out during rehearsal, you're not magically going to get them right during a gig. I had this issue recently. Guitarist had loads of issues in rehearsals but never addressed them - problems with tuning, gear not working properly, not nailing parts consistently. He argued that playing a gig would help fix all of that, so we did. What happened? He was just awful during the gig. He couldn't get his tuning right, he didn't play well... basically he just replicated all the fuck ups he makes in rehearsals. Of course. I don't know how it could ever be any different.

What made it worse? All his mates told him how great it was. He used that as evidence that I was being too critical - "everyone else thought it was good dude, you're just being pessimistic".
As if your mates will ever say "Jesus christ man, why was your guitar in the wrong tuning!? Shouldnt you be getting basic stuff right?"

[Gkm]

When you rehearse, play through. If you get in the habit of stopping for every error, guess what’s going to happen on stage.

[JDrumnavy]

May seem odd but military bands have rehearsals dialed in…. And I’m just talking about rock, jazz… small group to big band.

[TrevyTrev-andTheFunkyPets]

w
one thing that annoyed me was when band members wanted to bring their girlfriends or wives to EVERY practice. Especially if you are trying to write original music.